Writing on the Wall: Boston Celtics may Trade Rajon Rondo. Dallas Mavericks Interested

While the 2013 NBA Draft was supposed to occupy much of the national spotlight on Thursday night, the Boston Celtics and Brooklyn Nets stole the show with a blockbuster trade that would send future hall-of-famers Kevin Garnett & Paul Pierce to Brooklyn in exchange for a wealth of draft picks and players with expiring contracts, which will greatly aid the Celtics’ rebuilding efforts as the Big 3 era is officially over.

The C’s will send Garnett, Pierce, and sixth-man Jason Terry to the Nets for forwards Gerald Wallace, Kris Joseph & Kris Humphries, guard Marshon Brooks and three first-round picks. The picks would come in the 2014, 2016 and 2018 drafts.

June 7, 2012; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Celtics forward/center Kevin Garnett (5) and point guard Rajon Rondo (9) react during the third quarter of game six of the Eastern Conference finals of the 2012 NBA playoffs against the Miami Heat at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports

This is a massive haul for a Celtics team that is now building around a core of Rajon Rondo, Jeff Green and Avery Bradley, and now they have plenty of assets to do that with.

Well, that is if they are indeed trying to build around Rondo, or ship him off to acquire more assets in an attempt to begin looking for a new superstar to build around.

Enter the Dallas Mavericks, who would love to have Rondo, and have already spoken with the C’s about acquiring the All-NBA point guard this summer, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports.

This actually makes perfect sense. A few weeks ago, the C’s were trying to work out a deal with the Los Angeles Clippers to acquire point guard Eric Bledsoe and other assets in exchange for Kevin Garnett and head coach Doc Rivers. The trade broke down, but nevertheless, why were the C’s trying to acquire a point guard on the verge of becoming a free agent and commanding a multi-year contract worth anywhere between $30-40 million?

Simple; they’re ready to move on from Rondo and began building a championship contender from the ground up. It’s probably the smart thing to do, as multiple attempts in the past to trade Rondo for players like Chris Paul has probably left a bad taste in his mouth to the point he won’t want to resign with the C’s once his contract is up in 2016.

The C’s rebuilding efforts probably will leave them out of contention until then, so why risk building around Rondo, only to have him leave right as they’re becoming a contender again?

They’d probably rather move him and get as many draft picks as possible for next year in hopes of landing a future star like Andrew Wiggins, Julius Randle or Jabari Parker.

This doesn’t mean the C’s will trade Rondo this summer, or even this year. They may wait until the next NBA Draft i 2014 to trade him. That’s the target spot that should be looked at, and if they don’t get a top-3 or 4 pick next year, they may decide to build around Rondo.

But if they are able to land one of the three players mentioned above, that may be the player they choose to build around and trade Rondo for more pieces to build around that player.

Don’t expect to see Rondo traded soon, but don’t expect to hear trade rumors end any sooner.